Frank Jr.Pallone: pass a bill for a seven-year period that fully funds and assures states and families that their children will be covered. with that i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. pallone: i rise in opposition to the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. pallone: mad speaker, it wasn't enough that president bush vetoed two children's health bills that would have

Frank Jr.Pallone: made great advances in children's health, now my republican colleagues are trying to undermine the coverage gains that would be made in this bill. this proposal being put forward by my republican colleagues isn't a way to put poor kids first. it's a way to stop states from moving forward to help additional uninsured children. the chip bill already puts poor

Frank Jr.Pallone: kids first by targeting enrollment bonuses only to the poorest kids. those in medicaid. eight in 10 newly insured children under chip have incomes below current eligibility levels. the republican proposal is simply a way to stop states from moving forward. unfortunately the reality of today is that these moderate income families who would be

Frank Jr.Pallone: excluded under this motion are struggling to make ends meet, too. health cost vs. been rising much faster than income over the past decade. a family at 300% of poverty, for example, earning 2,800 a year, these so-called rich folks according to the republicans, now spend an average 19% of

Frank Jr.Pallone: their income on premiums, employer sponsored coverage if they have access to it. 10 years ago that same family was spending only 11% of income on preums for their plan. the chip bill moves us forward. it's the largest investment in children's health since the original chip law was passed in 1997. and this congress will do more for children and its an excellent step forward.

Frank Jr.Pallone: i want to mention that research shows that no means tested program reaches 90% of the individuals or families eligible for it. moreover, there is not reliable state by state data to even measure participation rates acrately among the states. while the bush administration initially attempted to establish measures like mr. deal is talking about, leading

Frank Jr.Pallone: independent academic and research institutions discredited the bush administration's target rate such as c.b.o. and the urban institute and the bush administration has moved away from its initial administrative directive of enforcing such limits on states the way this motion would do. so again the point is we need to move forward.

Frank Jr.Pallone: this is simply a ruse essentially to gut the bill for those moderate income families that would benefit for it. i would urge my colleagues to oppose this motion to recommit. let's move the bill as originally proposed.